Vita: Johannes Fischer, percussionist/composer

Hailed by the press as "a magician of sounds", Johannes Fischer impresses and touches audiences around the world with energetic playfulness, sonic sensitivity and emotional depth.

The first prize-winner of the International ARD Music Competition in Munich shows that percussion playing is a lot more than muscles and power. His aim is to connect with the poetic sound qualities of his vast arsenal of instruments as they become the source of creative sound explorations and acoustical adventure.

Not only active as an instrumentalist, Johannes Fischer is also busy in the field of composition, improvising, and teaching as he enjoys the different and various aspects and synergies of these artistic working areas.

In addition to his international career as a percussion soloist that led him to concert halls like the Musikverein and Konzerthaus in Vienna, Carnegie's Zankel Hall in New York or the Philharmonic Halls in Cologne and Berlin, to orchestras like the Deutsche Sinfonieorchester Berlin, NDR Radiophilharmonie Hannover, Deutsche Radiophilharmonie Saarbrücken, Potsdamer Kammerakademie, Hongkong Sinfonietta, Tonkünstlerorchester Niederösterreich or the Scottish Ensemble, as well as to major festivals around the globe, the collaboration with other instrumentalists, composers and artists from different disciplines are a strong focus in Johannes Fischer's artistic life.

His repertoire is built from the important works of 20th/21st century composers like Steve Reich, Iannis Xenakis, John Cage, George Aperghis or Morton Feldman as well as pieces written for him. Lately he is working on several conceptual electroacoustic solo shows, for example "one drum, many dreams" featuring own pieces for snare drum in combination with works by James Tenney, Mauricio Kagel and others.

For him, working as an improviser is unquestionable on the same level as playing written music thus he has been collaborating with percussionists like Matthias Kaul, Jean-Pierre Drouet or Fritz Hauser as well as french jazz pianist Edouard Ferlet. Together with pianist Nicholas Rimmer he is also busy creating new film soundtracks for silent movies such as "Metropolis" or "Nosferatu".

Alongside his long-time collaborations with eardrum percussion duo (with Domenico Melchiorre), his wife Nari Hong (flutes) and the Trio Belli-Fischer-Rimmer (trombone, piano, percussion) he is a well sought-after chamber musician and frequent guest at festivals like the Kammermusikfest Lockenhaus or the Heidelberger Frühling.

Under the name "pulse generator" he is exploring the world of experimental-psychadelic electroacoustic club sounds with Nari Hong (flutes, voice and electronics) and Franz Danksagmüller (live-electronics, KYMA).

As composer he was commissioned by the Crested Butte Music Festival Colorado, the Lucerne Festival, the Louvre Paris, the Young European Sound Forum, the Amaryllis Quartet, Third Coast Percussion, ensemble musikFabrik, the Heidelberger Frühling, Kammermusikfest Lockenhaus, BBC and The Royal Philharmonic Society and the Bayerischer Rundfunk.

Just recently the BBC released a videoclip with his "Music for electrified table and strings - a dining experience with Telemann" together with the Scottish Ensemble.

His recordings for OehmsClassics ("Gravity") and Genuin ("Traces" and "ritual obsessions") where reviewed enthusiastically by international press. In 2015/16 Wergo released his recordings of Enjott Schneider's "Sisyphos" for solo percussion and orchestra with the Deutsche Sinfonieorchester Berlin and "Phönix" for oboe, percussion and strings with Christoph Hartmann (oboe) and the Tonkünstlerorchester Niederösterreich under Kevin John Edusei.

As percussionist he won several prizes and scholarships, among them the first prize at the German National Music Universities Competition and the German Music Competition and the first prize and four additional special prizes at the 56th International ARD Music Competition in Munich.

Johannes Fischer studied with Bernhard Wulff, Taijiro Miyazaki and Pascal Pons at the Freiburg Music University and with a Gerd-Bucerius-scholarship at the University of California San Diego with Steven Schick. He pursued additional private studies in conducting with Francis Travis and composition with Dieter Mack.

Having taught at the Conservatory of Music in Lugano, Switzerland and been invited to masterclasses around the world, he was appointed Professor at the Lübeck Music University in 2009. Since then he is head of the percussion department and is tutoring a variety of ensemble activities and artistic collaborations.